Meet The Pope's Exorcist cast: who's who in the Russell Crowe movie

Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth in The Pope's Exorcist
Russell Crowe in The Pope's Exorcist (Image credit: Sony/Jonathan Hession)

Five decades after The Exorcist terrorized moviegoers, The Pope’s Exorcist aims to deliver chills and thrills to modern audiences using a very similar formula. This time around, Russell Crowe is the priest trying to prevent a demon from inhabiting a human host. 

Let's meet the cast behind the new movie. 

Russell Crowe as Father Gabriele Amorth

Russell Crowe in The Pope's Exorcist

Russell Crowe in The Pope's Exorcist (Image credit: Sony/Jonathan Hession)

Father Gabriele Amorth was the real-life lead exorcist for the Vatican. According to his memoirs, he participated in over 60,000 exorcisms throughout his career and he was one of the founding members of the International Association of Exorcists. 

Russell Crowe won an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Gladiator. He's enjoyed a legendary career that includes roles in popular films like Thor: Love and Thunder, Zack Snyder's Justice League, Man of Steel and 2017's The Mummy. He's best known for dramatic roles in films like L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, Cinderella Man and Noah

Daniel Zovatto as Father Esquibel

Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) and Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe) in THE POPE’S EXORCIST.

Daniel Zovatto (left) and Russell Crowe in The Pope's Exorcist (Image credit: Jonathan Hession/Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Father Esquibel is summoned to the old estate when young Henry starts to display disturbing behavior that's very out of character. When he arrives he realizes that he needs help if he's going to save the young boy. 

Costa Rica-born Daniel Zovatto has enjoyed a busy career. Most recently he appeared in 10 episodes of Station Eleven as The Prophet. He also played Tiago Vega in Penny Dreadful: City of Angels and Ramon Bayer-Boatwright in Here and Now. He appeared in three episodes of Fear the Walking Dead as Jack Kipling.  

Alex Essoe as Julia

Henry (Peter DeSouza-Feighoney), Father Gabriele Amorth (Russell Crowe), Father Esquibel (Daniel Zovatto) and Julia (Alex Essoe) in The Pope's Exorcist

Peter DeSouza-Feighoney, Russell Crowe, Daniel Zovatto and Alex Essoe in The Pope's Exorcist (Image credit: Sony Pictures)

Julia is recently widowed and has inherited a run-down estate from her late husband. 

Horror fans will recognize Alex Essoe from her work in Doctor Sleep, The Midnight Club, Midnight Mass and The Haunting of Bly Manor

Peter DeSouza Feighoney as Henry

Henry is Julia's young son and he's struggling with the loss of his father and having his life uprooted as the family moves into the old house. When his behavior makes a drastic change, his mother knows she needs help. 

Peter DeSouza Feighoney makes his feature film debut with The Pope's Exorcist

Laurel Marsden as Amy

Laurel Marsden on the red carpet

Laurel Marsden (Image credit: Natasha Campos/Getty Images for GreenSlate)

Amy is Julia's daughter and she's not happy that her family has been forced to move into the decaying old home.

Laurel Marsden appeared in several episodes of the Marvel Studios series Ms. Marvel on Disney Plus. She also played Kara in the television series Survive as well as the 2022 movie of the same name.  

Franco Nero as the Pope

Franco Nero at the B.A. Film Festival 2022

Franco Nero (Image credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

The Pope sends for Father Amorth when Father Esquibel discovers that whatever is happening to Henry is more than he can handle alone. The Pope supports Amorth's work and believes him when he says that this is an extremely rare case. 

Franco Nero got his start after being discovered by John Huston. He's a prolific actor known for roles in John Wick: Chapter 2, Django Unchained and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in addition to a long list of Italian movies and series. He also appeared in the 2019 Hallmark Channel Christmas movie Christmas in Rome starring Lacey Chabert.  

Ralph Ineson as the Demon

Ralph Ineson on the red carpet for The Tragedy of MacBeth

Ralph Ineson (Image credit: David M. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage/Getty Images)

The demon Asmodeus is the main villain in The Pope’s Exorcist

Ralph Ineson has enjoyed a very prolific career that includes roles in Willow, Chernobyl, The Green Knight, The Accidental Medium, The Capture and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Watch The Pope's Exorcist exclusively in movie theaters.

Sarabeth Pollock
Editorial Content Producer

 

Sarabeth joined the What to Watch team in May 2022. An avid TV and movie fan, her perennial favorites are The Walking Dead, American Horror Story, true crime documentaries on Netflix and anything from Passionflix. You’ve Got Mail, Ocean's Eleven and Signs are movies that she can watch all day long. She's also a huge baseball fan, and hockey is a new favorite.  

When she's not working, Sarabeth hosts the My Nights Are Booked Podcast and a blog dedicated to books and interviews with authors and actors. She also published her first novel, Once Upon an Interview, in 2022.